The level of the sound produced by radios, television receivers, stereo systems and the like varies over a wide range. For example, gun shots, crowd noise, and commercials frequently result in inordinately load sounds which may be offensive to persons in the vicinity of the loud speakers. On the other hand, the sound level may at times be so low that the person listening to the device cannot hear it. This occurs, for example, where the hearing of the person listening is impaired and the sound being reproduced is a whisper. Simply increasing or decreasing the volume level by adjusting a conventional volume control does not correct for these problems since the normal sound level may then be too low or too high. For example, when the sound level is so low that it cannot be heard, increasing the volume level may increase the average sound level so that it is disturbing to others not desiring to listen to the sound being reproduced. Where, however, the sound level becomes too high, decreasing the volume level of the entire signal may result in the low level sounds not being heard.